Educational Complex Geographical Practice in Student-Centered Learning

The article presents the problem of creating an optimal list of components of educational and professional programs in geography. It is noted that the Concept of student-centered learning provides for the mandatory involvement of students in the formation of educational programs, and therefore in the formation of the content of individual disciplines - a component of educational and professional programs. The purpose of the article is to determine the ways to optimize the process of forming students' competencies in the context of «soft skills» and «hard skills» based on the results of the study on the analysis and evaluation of the content and method of geographical practice. The study was conducted with students of the first (bachelor's) level of higher education (educational and professional program «Geography») at the Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University. To analyze and evaluate the content of training, an educational complex geographical practice was chosen as a component of the educational and professional program «Geography». The respondents were students and graduates of 1980-2020. The survey questionnaire contained 12 questions, which were divided into 4 blocks: 1) age and sphere of employment of respondents; 2) received «hard skills»; 3) received social and life safety skills; 4) emotional assessment of the practice and recommendations for improving the practice program. The obtained results proved that the survey of applicants should serve as an additional source for monitoring and modernization of both the program of the discipline and the educational and professional program of the specialty as a whole.